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Despair quotes

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“We cannot despair of humanity, since we are ourselves human beings.” Albert Einstein, “The world as I see it” - 1949

“But what we call our despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope.” George Eliot, “Middlemarch” - 1872

“Oft expectation fails, and most oft there where most it promises; and oft it hits where hope is coldest, and despair most fits.” William Shakespeare, “All's Well That Ends Well” - 1623

“Call it not patience, Gaunt; it is despair:” William Shakespeare, “Richard II” - 1595

“Discomfort guides my tongue and bids me speak of nothing but despair.” William Shakespeare, “Richard II” - 1595

“Hope is a lover's staff; walk hence with that and manage it against despairing thoughts.” William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” - 1623

“If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth—only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair.” C. S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity” - 1952

“Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.” C. S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity” - 1952

“There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair.” Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” - 16 April 1963

“Therefore it is that man dies in despair while the Spirit dies in ecstasy.” Honoré de Balzac, “Séraphîta” - 1834

“More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.” Woody Allen, “Side Effects” - 1980

“I need to be alone. I need to ponder my shame and my despair in seclusion; I need the sunshine and the paving stones of the streets without companions, without conversation, face to face with myself, with only the music of my heart for company.” Henry Miller, “Tropic of Cancer” - 1934

“But that happiness, no doubt, was a lie invented for the despair of all desire.” Gustave Flaubert, “Madame Bovary” - 1856

“Though provided with a large library, I'm frequently very dull at the Grange; take my books away, and I should be desperate!” Emily Brontë, “Wuthering Heights” - 1847

“One hoped, and the other despaired: they chose their own lots, and were righteously doomed to endure them.” Emily Brontë, “Wuthering Heights” - 1847

Related topics

hope loneliness love wisdom death life truth disappointment happiness narcissism desire humanity pain books comfort religion distress depression inaction shame

Related authors

William Shakespeare (4)
C. S. Lewis (2)
Emily Brontë (2)
George Eliot (1)
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1)
Albert Einstein (1)
Honoré de Balzac (1)
Woody Allen (1)
Henry Miller (1)
Gustave Flaubert (1)

Related sources

Richard II (2)
Mere Christianity (2)
Wuthering Heights (2)
All's Well That Ends Well (1)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1)
Middlemarch (1)
Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1)
The world as I see it (1)
Séraphîta (1)
Side Effects (1)
Tropic of Cancer (1)
Madame Bovary (1)